WindowTabs

Language: Japanese/日本語

WindowTabs is a tool that extends Windows productivity by letting you manage any window through a tabbed user interface (UI).

This version (ss_yyyy.mm.dd) is forked from payaneco's repository and incorporates some code implementations from leafOfTree's version. Maintained by Satoshi Yamamoto (@standard-software).

• Version
• Download
• Installation
• Usage
• Features
• Settings
• Building from Source
• Links
• License
• Comments

Latest version: ss_2026.09.21

See version.md for details.

Supported OS: Windows 10, Windows 11

Download from the releases page.

• WtSetup.msi - installer. Run it and follow the wizard (default: Program Files\WindowTabs)
• WindowTabs.zip - portable. Extract it anywhere and run WindowTabs.exe

• Right-click the tray icon, open "Settings", and choose the programs to tab in the "Programs" tab.
• Drag and drop tabs to group them, and right-click for further actions.

• Ctrl + click to add to / remove from the selection, Shift + click to select the range from the active tab.
• While tabs are selected, the context menu and drag operations act on the whole selection.

• Reorder within the same group (multi-select: the contiguous selected range moves together)
• Split into a new window, or link to another group (multi-select: the whole selection travels together)

Target tab : (tab name) — a display-only caption showing which tab the menu acts on (not selectable)
---
New tab : execute (exe name)
  Right of this tab
  ---
  Position (same submenu as "Position Move")
  Link to another group
---
Position Move
  Snap Left / Snap Right / Snap Top / Snap Bottom
  ---
  Snap 90% / 70% / 50% / 30% (each)
    Left / Right / Top / Bottom
    Top Left / Top Right / Bottom Left / Bottom Right
    Center / Center Horizontally / Center Vertically
  ---
  Snap Display
  Snap Desktop (multi-monitor only)
  ---
  Move
    Left Edge / Right Edge / Top Edge / Bottom Edge
    Top Left / Top Right / Bottom Left / Bottom Right
Link this tab group to another group (submenu lists other tab groups; choose the destination)
---
Detach this tab
  Position (same submenu as "Position Move")
  Link to another group
---
Close Tab
  Close this tab
  ---
  Close {N} tabs to the left
  Close {N} tabs to the right
  ---
  Close other tabs
  Close all tabs
---
Tab Group Behavior
  Prevent moving windows and resizing them from the top
  Add tab height margin when snapping
Tab Alignment
  Align all tabs to Left
  Align all tabs to Right
  ---
  Align this tab to Left
  Align this tab to Right
Tab Pin
  Pin this tab
  Unpin this tab
  ---
  Pin all tabs
  Unpin all tabs
Tab Color Settings
  This tab color
    Red / Blue / Green / Yellow / Purple / Orange / Pink
    ---
    (same 7 colors, Underline variants)
    ---
    (same 7 colors, Border variants)
  Clear this tab color
  ---
  Clear color settings on all tabs
Tab Name
  Rename this tab : (tab name)
  Reset this tab name : (name after reset)
---
System
  Copy (exe name) path
  Copy window title : (window title)
  ---
  Open folder of (exe name)
  Force kill this process
---
Settings...

In multi-select, per-tab items show "Selected {N} tabs..." and operate on the active tab plus the selected tabs. When the tab you right-clicked is not in the selection they read "Selected {N} tabs + target tab...", and "Close other tabs" becomes "Close {N} unselected tabs". Items that require a single target tab are disabled.

• Launch the same exe, placing it to the right of the tab, in a new window at a chosen position, or in another tab group.

• Snap moves the group to a screen edge keeping its width / height; percentage snaps resize it relative to the display. Moves to edges and corners, and maximizing across a display or the desktop, are there too.
• On multi-monitor setups the position menus appear once per display, e.g. "Position Move Display Left". The display the window sits on is marked "(here)"; the others start with a "Same position on this display" item.

• Move all tabs of the current group into another tab group.

• Move a detached tab to a chosen position, or link it to another tab group.
• To detach several at once, use Multi-Select Tabs first, then "Detach {N} selected tabs".

• Align tabs left / right individually or all at once.
• Dragging a tab changes its alignment too.
• With the "Tab placement on left/right snap" setting, a group whose tabs are all aligned to the same side realigns to the side it is snapped to.

• Display pinned tabs as icons only, or at a specified width with a pin button.
• Pinned tabs are placed leftmost within their (left- or right-aligned) group.

• Color-code tabs with backgrounds, underlines, or borders.

• The tab and tray-icon context menus, and the settings dialog, can be switched to dark mode.

• Tabs, settings and confirmation dialogs adapt when moved between displays with different DPI scales. Sharp rendering at 125% / 150% / 175% and other scales, with hover and click positions matching what is drawn
• A window dropped on a display is kept from growing past it

• Tab groups are preserved when switching virtual desktops (Win+Tab)
• Tab group state is restored across all virtual desktops on WindowTabs restart
• A tab group stays on one virtual desktop. Drag a tabbed window to another desktop in task view and it leaves its group, so a group is never split across desktops
• Groups on another virtual desktop are left out of the menus that link a tab, or a whole group, into another group

• UWP (Universal Windows Platform) applications are collectively treated as a single exe, supporting tabbing and auto-grouping

• English, Japanese, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Korean, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Polish, Vietnamese and Indonesian. Japanese Kansai and Tohoku dialect files are included
• Switch languages from the tray menu without restarting

• Settings\ beside WindowTabs.exe holds the defaults
  • VersionFolder.json - applications whose path changes with every version are treated as one application
  • WindowMargin.json - settings for applications with thick window frames
  • Language\FileList.json and Language\<language>.json - the language files
• Those files are replaced by every upgrade. To change one, put a file of the same name under %APPDATA%\WindowTabs\Settings\; it is laid over the shipped one entry by entry
• To add a language, put MyLanguage.json and a FileList.json that lists it under %APPDATA%\WindowTabs\Settings\Language
  • To correct a shipped string, put a file of the same name there holding only the keys to change; every other string stays as shipped, and strings added by a later version still arrive
  • FileList.json replaces the shipped list whole, so it can also hide languages from the tray menu

• Up to ss_2026.09.02 the language files sat in Language\ and the margins in Settings\Window_Margin.json, edited in place. The current version reads neither (the MSI removes them on upgrade; the zip leaves them)
• If you edited them, move your copies before upgrading, to %APPDATA%\WindowTabs\Settings\Language\ and %APPDATA%\WindowTabs\Settings\WindowMargin.json

• "Check for Updates" in the tray menu checks the latest GitHub release. It runs only when you click it; WindowTabs never checks by itself.
• If a newer version exists, it can be installed on the spot: the MSI install runs the installer, the zip install replaces the executable and restarts.

• All tab functionality can be temporarily disabled without quitting WindowTabs. Useful when using an app in full-screen mode.

• Tab group configuration is saved every 10 seconds, and survives a restart, being disabled, and a force-quit.
• Groups come back after a Windows restart or a logoff too. Even with new window handles, windows are recognised again by their application and their title.
• A tab's name, pin, colours, left/right alignment and its place in the group come back with its window. A window whose title has not settled yet - Excel before a workbook has loaded, say - takes its place once its real title appears.
• What was saved for a window that has not been reopened is kept for thirty days; for a tab closed by hand, eight.

• If WindowTabs ever becomes unresponsive, a watchdog detects the frozen state and restarts it; tab groups are preserved and restored.
• Earlier versions froze when the display configuration changed or the machine woke from sleep, which is what made this matter. Those are fixed, so the watchdog now remains only as a safety net.

Right-click the tray icon, or right-click a tab, and choose "Settings...". Tray actions are disabled while a dialog is open, to prevent overlapping operations.

• Tabs: Enable/disable tabbing for each program
• Auto Grouping: windows of the same program are automatically grouped into the same tab group
• Category 1-10: programs in the same category are grouped together even across different applications. Put Word, Excel and PowerPoint in one category to gather the Office apps (the columns are only visible where Auto Grouping is on)
• Switching Auto Grouping or a Category on also gathers the windows that are already open, as though each of them had just been opened. A tab pulled out by hand while the setting was already on stays out.
• Show all settings: also shows settings for programs that are not running. [x] removes one

If you create a nice color theme, please share it at GitHub Issues. Your theme may be included as a preset theme.

• Tab placement on left/right snap: snapping a uniformly aligned group left or right (including x% snaps) realigns its tabs to that side. "Don't change" is also available.
• Vertical tab direction: choose "Up, or down when it would be off-screen" (default) or "Always down".
• Configure hiding tabs for full-screen windows, while moving windows, and when tabs face downward.
• Prevent moving windows and resizing them from the top: stops a title-bar drag from moving the window, and the top edge from resizing it. The left, right and bottom edges resize as before. Changing this applies to every tab group.

• Configure keys for selecting tabs 1–9, switching to the next / previous tab, and adding a new tab. Numbered tabs use Ctrl+1–9, Alt+1–9 or individual assignments, and are active only while working in a target window.

• Save and restore tab group layouts, including tab decorations, pins, names, and alignment.

• Visual Studio 2026 Community Edition
• WiX Toolset v3.11 or newer (for building the MSI installer)

build_release.bat in the project root builds both the MSI installer and the portable ZIP distribution.

• Output: exe\installer\WtSetup.msi, exe\zip\WindowTabs.zip

• WindowTabs - Download
  https://www.softpedia.com/get/Desktop-Enhancements/ssWindowTabs.shtml

• WindowTabs のダウンロード・使い方 - フリーソフト100
  https://freesoft-100.com/review/windowtabs.html

• どんなウィンドウもタブにまとめられる「WindowTabs」に日本語派生プロジェクトが誕生（窓の杜） - Yahoo!ニュース
  https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/523e4c5b9db424bb1edfc582d647c1624a9b7502 (404 Not Found)

• どんなウィンドウもタブにまとめられる「WindowTabs」に日本語派生プロジェクトが誕生 - 窓の杜
  https://forest.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/2067165.html

• WindowTabs のダウンロードと使い方 - ｋ本的に無料ソフト・フリーソフト
  https://www.gigafree.net/utility/window/WindowTabs.html

• C# - WindowTabs というオープンソースを改良してみたいのですがビルドができません。何か必要なものがありますか？ - スタック・オーバーフロー
  https://ja.stackoverflow.com/questions/53770/windowtabs-というオープンソースを改良してみたいのですがビルドができません-何か必要なものがありますか

• 全Windowタブ化。Setsで頓挫した夢の操作性をオープンソースのWindowTabsで再現する。 #Windows - Qiita
  https://qiita.com/standard-software/items/dd25270fa3895365fced

This project is open source and licensed under the MIT License.

If you have any issues, please contact us via GitHub Issues or email: [email protected]

Issues are the quicker way to reach me.